Asus launches Zenfone Max with massive 5,000mAh battery for Rs. 9999, to take on Gionee Marathon M5 and Lenovo Vibe P1

Asus has unveiled the Zenfone Max, a smartphone with a humongous 5,000mAh battery in India. The first glimpse of the phone was given at the ZenFestival in India back in August last year. Today, Asus has made the device official in India for Rs. 9,999. It is now up for pre-ordering on Amazon and Flipkart, with regular selling to start from January 15. It will be available in Pure Black and Ceramic colors.

The Asus Zenfone Max is just 5.2mm thick which makes it one of the slimmest devices around. The fact that Asus managed to put in such a large battery in a really thin frame is noteworthy. It comes with dual SIM 4G and both the SIM card slots support Indian bands. It is powered by a Snapdragon 410 chipset clubbed with 2GB of RAM. It features a 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. It sports a 13-megapixel primary camera with real-tone LED flash, Laser autofocus, and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Asus is touting that the Zenfone Max can also work as a power bank for charging other devices. The Zenfone Max features a non-removable battery, which can deliver up to 914 hours of standby time and up to 38 hours of talk time.

Commenting on the launch, Peter Chang, Region Head South Asia & Country Manager, ASUS India said,”Timed perfectly with the new year, ZenFone Max takes our vision of providing luxury at an affordable price further. It combines a powerful battery with an innovative camera making it the perfect utility product for users who demand performance at all times. We are sure the phone will be appreciated by our patrons and take us a step closer to repeating the success we saw last year,”

With its massive 5,000mAh battery, the ZenFone Max is going to face a tough battle from other smartphones with similar battery power. Last year, the Gionee Marathon M4 was unveiled in India for Rs. 15,499 with a 5,000mAh battery. Recently, Gionee launched the successor to it, named as the Marathon M5 for Rs. 17,999 (6020mAh battery). Next in line is the Lenovo Vibe P1(4,900mAh battery), which was launched for Rs. 15,999. From pricing point of view, the Asus Zenfone Max fairs higher than its competitors as there is a big price gap between and other devices with such massive battery capacity.

Asus Zenfone Max specifications

• 5.5-inch display, 1280 x 720 pixels, Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection
• Android 5.0 Lollipop with Zen UI 2.0
• Snapdragon 410 chipset, 1.2 GHz quad-core chipset clubbed with 2GB of RAM
• 16GB internal memory, expandable up to 64GB via microSD card
• 13-megapixel rear camera, real tone flash, f/2.0 aperture, laser auto focus
• 5-megapixel front camera, f/2.0 aperture, 85-degree wide lens
• dual-SIM, 4G LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS
• 5,000 mAh battery